BARANY, EUGENE (1912-1979)

"Sydney Street Scene" (c.1955)
oil on canvas board
30 x 40cm
signed lower right
*private collection, Sydney
 
Barany is a forgotten French-Hungarian Painter. There is very little information available about this enigmatic artist. Barany studied to be a portraitist and commercial artist in Paris, and began his career as an artist in Post-War France. As a highly-sought after portraitist, he painted some of France's society leaders and great entertainers, including Edith Piaf & Jean-Paul Sartre. In 1951, he arrived in Sydney and lived in a one room studio in Kings Cross. At the time, Kings Cross was a thriving community of artists including Russell Drysdale & William Dobell. According to an article in the acclaimed magazine, PIX, in 1953, "Kings Cross provided the only approximation to the Paris Left Bank, haunt of the world's artistic rebels". Barany was called the "Kings Cross Existentialist", due to his interest in Jean-Paul Sartre. Whilst in Australia, he dabbled in various mediums, and was well respected for his large format cityscapes of his birthplace. Particularly the bustling streets of Montmartre at night, filled with tourists, street vendors and local characters, in an Expressionist style. His early career was marked by an exhibition at Macquarie Galleries in 1955 alongside another up-and-coming artist, John Olsen. Despite his early success, he unfortunately seems to have disappeared into obscurity, which is a great shame, due to his undeniable talent. This charming scene perhaps depicts either Kings Cross or Paddington... Or even perhaps a fictional Sydney streetscape.